‘Killer bees’ could buzz their way to Craven County

By Bill Hand, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Sunday, August 18, 2013 at 06:13 PM.

* In late March, two workers were moving trash at Picnic Island Park in Tampa, Fla., when they overturned an old tire where Africanized bees had built a nest. The men were stung more than 100 times before they could take cover in a park office.

* On June 1, a central Texas man bumped his tractor against a pile of wood that housed a feral colony of the bees. He fled to a neighbor’s yard attempting to reach a water hose to spray at them, but he received more than 3,000 stings and died. Women who attempted to help him also were badly injured by multiple stings.

* In late July, a north Texas woman was exercising her miniature horses when they were attacked by Africanized bees that had a nest some 75 feet away. Her boyfriend managed to get her into the house, though not before she was stung more than 100 times. Both horses, several chickens and a dog were stung to death as the man and woman watched in horror from inside.

Hopkins stated that the “killer bees” have been found in the North Carolina port of Morehead City — but that was in November 1991. Those bees were discovered in a mobile office that was unloaded from a ship and were quickly dispatched. A second incident happened in Wilmington a year later, and the bees were eliminated there as well.

Hopkins said he has had experience with the Africanized bees on trips he has made to Bolivia to learn about them.

“They’re hotter bees,” he said. “They’re more defensive than European bees are. There’s quite a bit of variation by their behavior.”

American beekeepers tend an Italian variety of honey bee that is significantly calmer than Africanized bees.

In a world that loves to scare itself silly, we call them “killer bees.” And they could be coming to a state near you.

Well, eventually.

State Apiary Inspector Don Hopkins agreed that the bees could survive in Craven County’s climate, and that they could come here. But it probably won’t happen very soon.

They’re the ill-tempered half-breeds of the insect worlds, hybrid pollinators who were created in 1956 by Brazilians seeking a honey bee better suited to the equatorial climates than the Italian rendition we are all familiar with. Aggressive, but heat-tolerant, bees were brought in from Africa and cross-bred with the Italian rendition common in the Americas and apis mellifere — the Africanized honey bee — was born.

While they were good producers of honey, they had an unfortunate habit of aggression as well. Escaping their breeders and swarming to start new hives, they began to extend themselves northward as much as 200 miles a year.

They entered the United States over the Mexican border in 1990 and have slowly extended their range north and west (and more slowly to the east) until they now inhabit parts of California, Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida (where they apparently arrived by ship), Louisiana and Alabama. Fox News reported sightings as far north as Tennessee this past March.

While they aren’t exactly a threat on the level of the ants from “Them!,” they have earned their dangerous reputation. At least three incidents have received national attention this year:

* In late March, two workers were moving trash at Picnic Island Park in Tampa, Fla., when they overturned an old tire where Africanized bees had built a nest. The men were stung more than 100 times before they could take cover in a park office.

* On June 1, a central Texas man bumped his tractor against a pile of wood that housed a feral colony of the bees. He fled to a neighbor’s yard attempting to reach a water hose to spray at them, but he received more than 3,000 stings and died. Women who attempted to help him also were badly injured by multiple stings.

* In late July, a north Texas woman was exercising her miniature horses when they were attacked by Africanized bees that had a nest some 75 feet away. Her boyfriend managed to get her into the house, though not before she was stung more than 100 times. Both horses, several chickens and a dog were stung to death as the man and woman watched in horror from inside.

Hopkins stated that the “killer bees” have been found in the North Carolina port of Morehead City — but that was in November 1991. Those bees were discovered in a mobile office that was unloaded from a ship and were quickly dispatched. A second incident happened in Wilmington a year later, and the bees were eliminated there as well.

Hopkins said he has had experience with the Africanized bees on trips he has made to Bolivia to learn about them.

“They’re hotter bees,” he said. “They’re more defensive than European bees are. There’s quite a bit of variation by their behavior.”

American beekeepers tend an Italian variety of honey bee that is significantly calmer than Africanized bees.

Bees — European or Africanized — will not generally sting a person unless they feel their hive is threatened.

Hopkins explained that, when bees sting a person, their barbed stinger stays in the person’s flesh, killing the bee. That stinger has pheromones and venom. The pheromones alert other bees that there is danger, calling them to attack.

The venom, though painful, is relatively harmless unless the person is allergic. According to an ABC report, it takes 10 stings per body pound of weight to kill a person.

European bees will not follow a person or animal very far before they give up and return to their hive. Africanized bees, however, react more strongly and will also pursue their prey farther — a quarter mile or more.

“The difference between European and Africanized bees is, essentially, Africanized bees are more sensitive to those pheromones,” Hopkins said.

Also, while European bee swarms will calm down after a few minutes, it may take their Africanized cousins several hours to do so.

How does one threaten a hive? Beyond the obvious knocking it over or throwing stones, such things as vibrations (such as from tractors), dark clothes or rapid movement can put bees on the alert. Oddly enough, eating a banana near a hive may stir them up because bananas have pheromones similar to the ones that excite bees.

With European bees, you can be fairly close to a hive and feel safe.

“Africanized bees, down in Bolivia, I’ve witnessed cattle and animals and people that are starting to flail and get stung while fellows are several hundred yards away from the hive,” Hopkins said.

He said a strong presence of European bees in the eastern half of the country are the primary reason that the Africanized bees have been slow to migrate in our direction.

“When they were first moving into Texas,” Hopkins said, “they basically went to the less occupied areas [to the west], where there was not as much European influence. The more European bees there are in an established population, the slower the integration.”

North Carolina, he said, is particularly blessed with beekeepers and their bees.

However, Africanized bees are slowly moving east, displacing or breeding with the European variety.

Professional beekeepers also ship hives across the country to rent out to farms, and North Carolina is a prime area both for using those hives and as a holding place for bees in transit. Hopkins said that hives coming in, however, are carefully inspected.

Outside of their aggressive behavior, it isn’t easy to tell an Africanized bee from a European bee. They look virtually the same, except that they are a tiny bit smaller. When aggressive stinging incidents are reported, inspectors do careful measurements to determine the kind bee they’re dealing with.

Also, Africanized bees are far less particular in their choices of nests. Feral European bees, Hopkins said, “will nest in a cavity in a tree, usually fairly high off the ground, in excess of 20 feet. It isn’t unusual for African bees to be on the ground or in the ground, like inside a water meter box.”

So finding a swarm of bees like is a good clue you’ve found the kind you may want to report.

Hopkins does receive a number of calls from worried people who often mistake yellow jackets for bees. These are easier to tell apart, however: Yellow jackets have a bright yellow and black color while honey bees have stripes more the color of leather and dark brown, with hairy bodies.

So far, outside of the two incidents in the ports more than 10 years ago, no such bees have been found inside North Carolina’s borders.

If you are stung by a bee, do not swat it. A smashed bee releases even more pheromones, calling more bees to the attack.

Do not pluck the stinger out: This causes more venom to enter the body. Instead, scrape the stinger off.

If you are attacked by bees, run. Hiding in water or bushes will not protect you, as bees will simply wait you out. Cover your face with anything you can find: Bees tend to attack the face when they swarm.

If you suspect you have found an Africanized hive, then call an apiary inspector and report it. Do not take any chances of stirring it up and keep animals away.

The coastal bee inspector is Adolphus Leonard. His office can be reached at 252-916-3444.